Feel free to ignore this rant, but I'm sooo pissed I have to write. It helps me. The city of Ephrata is puttin a tourist trap right in front of my door, practically. I found out, by chance mind you, that they propose to expand Oasis Park. They are developing the land across the street (my side). There's more, trust me.

There are 2 plans. Both involve cutting down all the trees that house a very diverse ecosystem of birds, rabbits, mice, ducks, snakes, salamanders and numerous other creatures. I know because I've been keeping careful watch over the animals. I count the birds, follow the reptiles, and keep the numbers of mice down for my own sanity. I am an animal lover and I have to keep track of the wildlife for the safety of my children and house. The first plan is to build a recreation center, a playing field, trails, parking lot, pedestrian bridge and "gateway walls". The walls will probably say Welcome to Ephrata since they moved the city limits border. I live outside of the city and the new "park" (obviously) is in the city limits. The second plan is some what bareable. There's just a small parking lot, restrooms, bike and walking trails and the welcome gates.

Both these plans have seriously raised my blood pressure. My husband and I bought the place January 3rd, 2003. In the summer of 2007 we had the county claim there easement and blow away a few hundred feet of the cliff we live on. While they were using said explosives, we had some shrapnel fly into our house! Yeah. Baseball sized basalst rocks traveled into our walls. One was my kids' bedroom wall. If that rock had bounced a half a foot higher it would have gone through the window and landed on one of their beds I'm sure. I'm not angry about the rocks or the damamge anymore, just the stress the whole process caused. We were evacuated everytime the had to blast for about ten minutes. My kids were 2 1/2 and six months at the time, so to pack them in the car, forceabley buckle them in and drive a mile away and wait is a lot of stress on little kids that age. We did that probably 10 or 12 times. Then this last summer the PUD replaced all the power lines that run in line with Martin road. The power lines are one of the 3 borders of our property. Everyday for about 3 weeks they drove their trucks through our driveway to get to the power lines. We, by law, had to make a useable path so they could get to the site. That meant Mike had to move a couple of trees and HUGE boulders. I'm talking boulders weighing tons! All we have is a backhoe tractor that is very near the end of it's life and it's not even ours. It's Mike's dad's tractor.

I am pissed for several reasons. I realize that I don't technically live in Ephrata, but when something happens on, to or near my house, property, and family, I think I have the right to be informed about it. I had no choice when the county came to claim their easement. I signed an agreement that I was aware that they could take it whenever they felt like it. I was hoping, however that I would have more than a weeks notice. I understand that we are legally obliged to give the PUD access to the city's property. I was hoping though, once again, to be given some notice at all. They gave us 2 days I believe. I also realize that the city of Ephrata is going to do whatever they feel will bring money in to the community, which is fine. I just wish SOMEONE COULD HAVE TOLD US FOR FREAK'S SAKE!!! I mean I'll have to deal with more trucks, more contractors, more noise, more traffic disruptions and more stress. Right now we're also building a house in our backyard. It's literally about 15 feet from our current residence. I also read about a tire factory going in down the road. Seriously!! How much more can be done to this place? We bought this piece of property because we assumed that no one would develop around us. No one else seemed to even know where our piece of crap land was or care, until 2 years ago.Now it's nonstop CHAOS!! Freakin' A! GIMME A BREAK WHY DON'T YA!!

Oh and I'm sure everyone remembers the murder that happened in Oasis Park in Dec. 2002. Yeah. We were in escrow and were home that night. Did anyone ask if we heard or found anything. NO! COME ON.

Love and marriage

I'd like to think that I make time for my husband and my marriage, but I don't that is an accurate statement. He's in my thoughts for a large portion of my day, however this is a situation where the cliche "It's the thought that counts" does not apply. I call it a cliche because not everyone has the gift of telepathy and therefore it is an erroneous naivety. We try to stay connected with a daily repatoire and a non hostile dialogue. We are not perfect, to say the least, so it's a long term goal. That way we're not driven into maddness from the feeling of failure. Mike (my husband) works at night so we don't really have a regular time where we can talk alone. He gets home when I go to bed and he's still sleeping when I wake up. The rest of the day we're in the presence of the little people who live amongst us. We've managed to get away alone a handful of times the last four years our marriage has been infultrated by children. I hope my comedic tone is translating through the text. Both my kids are wanted and were planned. No accidents or "OOPS!" babies here. I can honestly (and prehaps arrogantly) surmise that I am a good mom. I don't know if I'm the best wife however. God willing I'll get used to this whole marriage thing.

Adventures in parenting

Today I was tested as a parent and authority figure. My son is trying to find his "place" in the world and our family. He is constantly looking for was to make his own rules and follow his own agenda. My daughter does this too, but they both have different styles of insubordination. Riley's weapon of choice is mind games. He transforms into a Jedi master and tries to alter my thoughts with a wave of his hand which sends a new telepathic itinerary into my brain stem. He enjoys convincing me that what he thinks is right, is right. Fiona prefers simple mutiny. Whenever confronted with undesireable rules she resorts to either stubborn protest or fains hearing loss or amnesia. She either screams, acts as if she didn't hear or forgot what you told her to do. I don't know how long I can go on seeing as I am in a constant state of negotiation. My house has become more tense than a UN meeting! Neither of them is in preschool and apparently they are ready to be masters of their own destiny. Maybe I should just give them a good dose of reality and convert them into employees. Then maybe they will see how desireable "grown up" life is. I guess I should feel blessed that they are obviously eager to run their own lives. It means I have set them up with the tools they will need to smoothly navigate the years that await them. Right?

October 19, 2008

HI! I'm Gabby from Ephrata WA. I have a family of four. My husband, Mike, of five years and two children. My son, Riley, will be four years old in January and my daughter, Fiona, will be two years old in December. We are currently living in tight quaters on the outskirts of Ephrata. We are in the beginning stages of building our two story dream house however. If all goes well, our house should be finished by next year. Knock on wood!